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Viruses generally have compact genomes, resulting in many viral mRNAs with short 5’ untranslated regions. An antiviral complex exploits this feature of viral mRNAs to selectively inhibit viral protein synthesis and repress viral replication.

Phenotype variation is higher in mutants than wild types. Examining a range of mutant severities, this study unexpectedly found that variation decreases in severe conditions. A quadratic trend best fits the relationship between severity and variation.

A global network of researchers was formed to investigate the role of human genetics in SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity; this paper reports 13 genome-wide significant loci and potentially actionable mechanisms in response to infection.

Whole-genome sequencing, transcriptome-wide association and fine-mapping analyses in over 7,000 individuals with critical COVID-19 are used to identify 16 independent variants that are associated with severe illness in COVID-19.

It is difficult to recover materials for re-manufacturing and re-use from plastics that are compounded with colourants, fillers and flame retardants. Now, it has been shown that alternative plastics based on dynamic covalent poly(diketoenamine)s depolymerize in strong aqueous acids and enable triketone and amine monomers to be isolated and upcycled into new plastics.

The crystal structure of the GP1–GP2 complex of the prototypical arenavirus LCMV in prefusion form sheds light on the conformational changes that the arenavirus glycoprotein undergoes to cause fusion.

Subducted slabs may experience transient weakening during mineral phase transitions, consistent with slab stagnation in the mantle transition zone, according to a synchrotron beamline study of the quartz-to-coesite and olivine-to-ringwoodite phase transitions.

The co-crystal structure of VSGsur with the trypanocidal compound suramin directly links the binding of the drug to the resistance phenotype displayed by strains of Trypanosoma brucei expressing VSGsur. Therefore, VSGs can have a function beyond that of antigenic variation.

Hanley et al show that transmission of dengue and Zika virus from Old and New World monkeys is shaped by an immunologically-mediated trade-off between magnitude and duration of replication. Patterns of Zika transmission suggests high risk of spillback into neotropical monkeys.

Rotation of the Galactic bar at the centre of the Milky Way can explain gaps and asymmetries in stellar stream Palomar 5. Similar streams close to the Galactic Centre are therefore unfit for probing the dark matter subhalo interactions in our Galaxy.

An integrative framework to simultaneously interrogate the dynamics of the transcriptome and proteome at subcellular resolution that combines two methods, localization of RNA (LoRNA) and a streamlined density-based localization of proteins by isotope tagging (dLOPIT).

Sea otters recolonizing an estuary in California indirectly reduce erosion by reducing burrowing crab abundance, suggesting that restoring predators could be a key mechanism to improve the stability of coastal wetlands and other ecosystems.

The vesicles that transport proteins between intracellular organelles are small, short-lived, and elusive. Here, the authors show that capture of these vesicles through relocalizing tethers to mitochondria allows their contents to be characterised by organelle proteomics.

In this study, Aggarwal and colleagues perform prospective sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 isolates derived from asymptomatic student screening and symptomatic testing of students and staff at the University of Cambridge. They identify important factors that contributed to within university transmission and onward spread into the wider community.

Spatial proteomics allows studying cellular protein localisations at system-wide scale. Here, the authors show that combining the previously developed hyperLOPIT method with differential centrifugation yields protein localisation maps at suborganellar resolution while reducing analysis time and input material.

Neurons form synapses onto glioma cells, and depolarization of glioma membranes promotes glioma growth in vivo, whereas blocking electrochemical signalling blocks tumour growth.

Chronic infection with SARS-CoV-2 leads to the emergence of viral variants that show reduced susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in an immunosuppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma.

Sera from vaccinated individuals and some monoclonal antibodies show a modest reduction in neutralizing activity against the B.1.1.7 variant of SARS-CoV-2; but the E484K substitution leads to a considerable loss of neutralizing activity.

RNA localization is mediated by kinesin motors and anchoring. However, mechanisms underlying specificity are unclear. Here, the authors find that MBNL protein’s zinc fingers prefer specific kinesins, and its unstructured tail mediates membrane anchoring.

Limitations of spatiotemporal resolution have rendered it difficult to isolate language. Here, intracranial recordings were used to map semantic processes pertaining to sentence integration, unveiling complementary roles for frontotemporal brain regions.

Stereotactic needle biopsies are currently performed for diagnosis only in glioblastoma; this study highlights the depth of information available through multi-omics analysis.

The Omicron variant evades vaccine-induced neutralization but also fails to form syncytia, shows reduced replication in human lung cells and preferentially uses a TMPRSS2-independent cell entry pathway, which may contribute to enhanced replication in cells of the upper airway. Altered fusion and cell entry characteristics are linked to distinct regions of the Omicron spike protein.

Liquid ultrafast electron scattering measures structural responses in liquid water with femtosecond temporal and atomic spatial resolution to reveal a transient hydrogen bond contraction then thermalization preceding relaxation of the OH stretch.

A study of the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in England between September 2020 and June 2021 finds that interventions capable of containing previous variants were insufficient to stop the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants.

The primary visual cortex (V1) carries signals related to visual speed, and its responses are also affected by run speed. Here the authors report that nearly half of the V1 neurons were reliably driven by combinations of visual speed and run speed. As a population, V1 neurons predicted a linear combination of visual and run speed better than visual or run speeds alone.

Post-international travel quarantine has been widely implemented to mitigate SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but the impacts of such policies are unclear. Here, the authors used linked genomic and contact tracing data to assess the impacts of a 14-day quarantine on return to England in summer 2020.

In glioma, malignant synapses hijack mechanisms of synaptic plasticity to increase glutamate-dependent currents in tumour cells and the formation of neuron–glioma synapses, thereby promoting tumour proliferation and progression.

The impact of antiparasitic treatment on local tissue responses in the case of chronic Chagas disease (caused by Trypanosoma cruzi infection) is not well understood. Authors provide insight into clinical treatment failure and drivers of post-infectious conditions.

Genetic and testing data from England show that the SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern B.1.1.7 has a transmission advantage over other lineages.

Measurements of mercury species and metagenomic analyses of Antarctic snow, brine, sea ice, and seawater suggest that mercury methylation may be conducted by the marine microaerophilic bacterium Nitrospina in Antarctic sea ice.

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis necrotizing toxin (TNT) is shown to cause toxicity by hydrolyzing NAD⁺ in the host cell. The crystal structure of TNT bound to its immunity factor reveals a new NAD⁺ glycohydrolase fold.

This protocol describes a substantially redeveloped approach for the localization of organelle proteins by isotope tagging (LOPIT) to enable subcellular localization of thousands of proteins per experiment (hyperLOPIT).

A structure of the MRAS–SHOC2–PP1C complex supports a RAS-driven and multi-molecular model for RAF activation in which individual RAS–GTP molecules recruit RAF–14-3-3 and SHOC2–PP1C to activate the downstream pathway.

“Protein relocalisation plays a major role in the innate immune response but remains incompletely characterised. Here, the authors combine temporal proteomics with LOPIT, a spatial proteomic workflow, in a fully Bayesian framework to elucidate spatiotemporal proteomic changes during the LPS-induced immune response in THP-1 cells.

The response to infectious and inflammatory challenges differs among people but the reasons for this are poorly understood. Here the authors explore the impact of variables such as age, sex, and the capacity for controlling inflammation and maintaining immunocompetence, linking this capacity to favourable health outcomes and lifespan.

RNA-binding proteins can be identified and quantified in any organism using a simple method that combines UV cross-linking and phase separation.

The spatial location of proteins within a cell is a key element of protein function. Here the authors describe hyperLOPIT—a proteomics workflow that allows the simultaneous assignment of thousands of proteins to subcellular niches with high resolution—and apply it to mouse pluripotent stem cells.

Stressors such as sediment dredging can harm marine organisms, but this impact could be minimised if targeted within ‘ecological windows’. Here, Wu and colleagues develop a modelling framework to identify ecological windows that maximise seagrass resilience under varying dredging schedules.

Colorectal cancer cells can acquire resistance to MEK inhibition due to BRAF or KRAS amplification. Here, the authors show that while MEK inhibitor withdrawal in BRAF mutant cells restores sensitivity to the inhibitor through the loss of BRAF amplification mediated by a p57-dependent mechanism, drug withdrawal from KRAS mutant cells does not restore sensitivity but results in EMT and chemoresistance.

Pyrrolysine (Pyl) exists in nature as the 22^nd proteinogenic amino acid, but studies of Pyl have been hindered by the difficulty and inefficiency of both its chemical and biological syntheses. Here, the authors developed an improved PANCE approach to evolve the pylBCD pathway for increased production of Pyl proteins in E. coli.

This report from the 1000 Genomes Project describes the genomes of 1,092 individuals from 14 human populations, providing a resource for common and low-frequency variant analysis in individuals from diverse populations; hundreds of rare non-coding variants at conserved sites, such as motif-disrupting changes in transcription-factor-binding sites, can be found in each individual.

The genome of a western lowland gorilla has been sequenced and analysed, completing the genome sequences of all great ape genera, and providing evidence for parallel accelerated evolution in chimpanzee, gorilla and human lineages at a number of loci.

The structure of the substrate-binding domain of Siah provides insight into how this protein interacts with a diverse set of substrate proteins.

Structural, functional and in silico analyses of the chloroquine-resistance transporter PfCRT of Plasmodium falciparum suggest that distinct mechanistic features mediate the resistance to chloroquine and piperaquine in drug-resistant parasites.